Marcionite Church of Christ
Birthplace of the first Christian Holy Bible.
Home of the oldest inscription bearing the name of Jesus.
Originators of the earliest Christian hymnbook.
Creators of the original Christian apologia.
What is the Testamentum?
The Marcionite Church was once the largest Christian body in the world, encompassing millions of adherents across the known regions of antiquity. In 128 C.E., Marcion of Sinope produced the first Christian Bible, known as the Testamentum. This sacred text contains the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed to the Apostle Paul, along with the original ten Epistles attributed to him.
The Gospel contained therein was revealed by Jesus Christ to the Apostle Paul in 34 C.E. The Apostolicon was completed and circulated among the Pauline churches before Marcion of Sinope united it with the Evangelicon in a single codex in 128 C.E. In this way, the revelation entrusted to Paul became the first Christian Bible: one Gospel and ten Epistles, without the Hebrew Bible.
The Testamentum stands as the foundational canon of Christian scripture, from which nearly all later denominations ultimately derive their origins.
The Testamentum consists of the Evangelicon and the Apostolicon. The Evangelicon is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: the record of His descent, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection, through which He revealed the previously unknown God the Father. It presents Christ without a birth narrative or earthly genealogy and proclaims Him as the Son who descended from Heaven to make the Father known.
The Apostolicon contains the ten Epistles of Paul: Galatians, First and Second Corinthians, Romans, First and Second Thessalonians, Laodiceans, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians. These Epistles proclaim salvation by grace through faith, freedom from the Law, and reconciliation with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Each is introduced by an ancient prologue situating the Epistle within Paul’s apostolic ministry.
Each Epistle is preceded by an ancient prologue identifying its recipients, circumstances, and place within Paul’s apostolic ministry. These prologues preserve the Marcionite understanding of the letters and help the reader follow the historical course of Paul’s mission apart from the later narrative imposed by the Acts of the Apostles.
Marcionite Christians firmly rejected the Hebrew Bible and the god depicted within it, recognizing a fundamental incompatibility between its teachings and the message of salvation brought by Jesus Christ. This theological distinction—clear and demonstrable through the scriptures themselves—is precisely why the Hebrew Bible was excluded from the original Christian canon.
One
Gospel
Ten
Epistles
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
Galatians 2:21
MARCIONITE CHURCH
Who Are the Marcionite Christians?
Marcionite Christians are not Gnostics. Our faith is not built on hidden teachings or secret revelations. Instead, it is grounded in Prima Scriptura—the authority of the first Christian Bible, the Testamentum—which openly and unapologetically proclaims the truths of our doctrine. These beliefs not only stand in the light of public scripture but also predate the formation of any other existing Christian church.
Though once vast in size and global in reach, the Marcionite Church has never been a burdensome institution encumbered by rigid hierarchies or layers of ecclesiastical control. Every individual is a sovereign child of God, fully capable of communion with Him in the present moment. The purpose of the Marcionite Church is to foster and strengthen that divine relationship, while offering a spiritual community grounded in fellowship, encouragement, and shared faith.
Prima Scriptura
Sola Fide
Credobaptism
Trinitarian
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another according to my gospel; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert to a gospel different from that of Christ."
Galatians 1:6-7
MARCIONITE CHURCH
Where Did the Marcionite Church Come From?
In the years following the resurrection of Christ, the early Christian community was marked not by unity and peace, but by intense division and theological strife—even among the Apostles themselves. Far from being a harmonious beginning, this era was one of doctrinal conflict and spiritual contention.
From the beginning, the Apostle Paul proclaimed a Gospel received directly from Jesus Christ rather than from any human authority. His message stood apart from the traditions of Jerusalem, revealing the previously unknown God the Father through Jesus Christ and proclaiming salvation by grace through faith rather than through the Law.
As competing accounts of Christ and altered forms of the apostolic writings began to circulate, Marcion of Sinope travelled among the Pauline churches and gathered the Gospel and Epistles they had preserved. In 128 C.E., Marcion united the Evangelicon and Apostolicon in a single codex, producing the first known Christian Bible: the Testamentum. By placing one Gospel and ten Epistles within a defined collection, he established the boundaries of Christian Scripture and proclaimed that these writings alone contained the authoritative Gospel and Apostle of the Church.
Marcion was born in Sinope, a major port city on the Black Sea coast of Pontus. Ancient tradition identifies him as the son of the bishop of Sinope and associates his family with maritime commerce. This background placed him at the meeting point of Christian ministry, Mediterranean travel, and the exchange of texts among widely separated churches.
Through these connections, Marcion was able to travel among the Pauline communities and examine the Gospel and Epistles preserved by them. He recognized that competing forms of the apostolic writings had begun to circulate and undertook the work of gathering, comparing, and preserving the textual tradition received by the churches founded upon Paul’s Gospel.
The Testamentum contained one Gospel and ten Epistles. It required no Hebrew Bible to establish the identity of Jesus Christ, for the Gospel itself proclaimed the revelation of God the Father, while the Apostle expounded its meaning. Christianity therefore possessed its own Scriptures, its own Apostle, and its own revelation long before later generations sought to unite it with the Hebrew Scriptures.
Using the Testamentum as the foundation, Marcion established the Marcionite Church, which quickly expanded throughout the known world. Even the early Catholic Church relied on the Testamentum as a reference for translating Christian scriptures from Greek into Latin—though subsequent revisions and interpolations significantly altered the original message.
Today, a growing number of biblical scholars and theologians recognize that the canonical gospels found in modern Bibles are heavily edited versions of an earlier, purer gospel—the original Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preserved in the Testamentum.
"No man putteth new wine into old wineskins; else the new wine will burst the wineskins, and be spilled, and the wineskins shall perish."
Evangelicon 3:57
MARCIONITE CHURCH
What Happened to the Testamentum?
Centuries after the Testamentum was first transcribed in 128 C.E., the Hebrew Bible and various writings of uncertain origin were forcibly appended to it by imperial decree. This act was carried out under the authority of a pagan Roman emperor’s political-religious council, not by divine inspiration or apostolic mandate.
The Council of Nicaea, convened in 325 C.E., initiated this distortion. Its decisions amounted to a theological defacement—comparable to desecrating a sacred text with ideological graffiti. These alterations were later ratified and codified by the Council of Rome in 382 C.E., further obscuring the original message of the Gospel.
In contrast, the earliest Christians, as recorded in the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem in 48 C.E., affirmed that the true revelation of God came through Jesus Christ—not through the Hebrew Bible. That text reflects the customs, laws, and tribal deity of a people and religion wholly distinct from the universal salvation proclaimed in the Testamentum. It is alien to the spirit, doctrine, and purpose of authentic Christianity.
"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Galatians 1:11-12
MARCIONITE CHURCH
How Was the Testamentum Restored?
The original Testamentum was condemned, its churches were persecuted, and its manuscripts were systematically destroyed. Yet its text was never entirely lost. Tertullian, Epiphanius, Ephrem, Adamantius, Jerome, and other opponents quoted the Marcionite Scriptures at length while attempting to refute them. The very men who sought to destroy the Testamentum became the unwitting guardians of much of its text.
Drawing upon these patristic witnesses, early Latin and Syriac evidence, surviving Greek manuscript traditions, and modern textual scholarship, the Marcionite Church has reconstructed the Evangelicon and Apostolicon and restored them to their proper place at the foundation of Christian Scripture. This is neither a paraphrase nor a devotional adaptation, but a careful textual restoration intended for both scholarly study and the life of the Church.
Today, the Testamentum is once again read in worship, studied by believers, and freely available to all who desire to encounter the Gospel first revealed to the Apostle Paul and preserved by the earliest Marcionite Christians.
MARCIONITE CHURCH
Ready to reclaim your Christian faith?
There is profound comfort in rediscovering the true origins of your Christian faith and holding in your hands the first Christian Bible—the Testamentum. With a deeper understanding of the Church’s authentic history and teachings, you are now called to move forward, remaining actively connected with fellow believers in the Marcionite Christian community.
Read the Testamentum for yourself, compare its Gospel with the later scriptures, and discover the faith proclaimed before Christianity was joined to the Hebrew Bible.
“We are the price of the blood of Jesus.”
— Marcion of Sinope
Antitheses
When Marcion of Sinope compiled the first Christian Bible—the Testamentum—in 128 C.E., he united the Evangelicon and Apostolicon in a single codex without the Hebrew Bible. Christians could therefore compare the Gospel of Christ and the writings of Paul directly with the Torah and the other Hebrew Scriptures. The contrast was unmistakable: the God the Father revealed through Jesus Christ differed profoundly, both in character and teaching, from the deity revealed through Moses.
According to the Church’s Chronicon, Marcion compiled the Antitheses in 139 C.E. In this work, he placed passages from the Hebrew Scriptures beside passages from the Evangelicon and Apostolicon, demonstrating their opposing laws, promises, judgments, and conceptions of God. His purpose was to show that Christianity was not the continuation of Judaism and that the previously unknown God proclaimed by Jesus Christ was not the lawgiver of the Hebrew Bible.
The Antitheses became one of the principal foundations of Marcionite teaching and helped the Marcionite Church spread throughout the Roman Empire. Its argument was simple enough for any reader to test: compare the two bodies of scripture and judge whether they reveal the same God.
No complete copy of the Antitheses survives. What remains must be reconstructed largely from hostile writers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian, who quoted or answered Marcion’s arguments while attempting to refute him. Ironically, the enemies who sought to destroy the work also preserved evidence of its contents.
Hebrew Bible
Testamentum
Articles
The history and teachings of the Marcionite Church have long been presented almost entirely through the accusations of its adversaries. Marcion’s writings were hunted down and destroyed, the Testamentum was altered and absorbed into later collections, and the memory of the ancient Church was preserved chiefly by those who sought to extinguish it. Any serious examination of the Marcionite Church must therefore distinguish between its own surviving scriptures and the hostile claims made against it.
The articles collected here examine the Testamentum, the history of the Marcionite Church, the teachings of Marcion and his successors, the development of the later Christian canon, and the theological differences between God the Father revealed by Jesus Christ and the deity depicted in the Hebrew Bible. They also address common questions, historical controversies, textual discoveries, and misconceptions concerning the Marcionite faith.
Through these studies, the Marcionite Church of Christ seeks to recover its suppressed history, defend the Gospel revealed to the Apostle Paul, and apply the teachings of the Testamentum to the Church and the world today.
Questions
Any discussion of the Marcionite Church should begin with a necessary caution: beyond the Testamentum, which circulated among many of the earliest Christians and was not used exclusively by Marcionite communities, the precise doctrines and practices of the ancient Marcionite Church are only imperfectly preserved.
Marcion set forth his theological distinctions in a work known as the Antitheses, explaining why the deity revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures could not be identified with God the Father revealed by Jesus Christ. Yet Marcion’s own writings were systematically suppressed and destroyed. As a result, much of what survives concerning his teachings comes from hostile opponents whose purpose was to refute him rather than faithfully preserve his doctrine.
The Marcionite Church of Christ therefore approaches the surviving evidence critically, distinguishing the testimony of the Testamentum from later polemical claims and reconstructing the faith of the early Church through scripture, history, and careful theological study.
Below, you may submit a question concerning the Testamentum, Marcionite doctrine, Church history, worship, membership, or any common misconception about the Marcionite Church.
ONE GOSPEL. ONE BIBLE. ONE FAITH.
ONE GOSPEL. ONE BIBLE. ONE FAITH.
ONE GOSPEL. ONE BIBLE. ONE FAITH.
JESUS IS LORD.
JESUS IS LORD.
JESUS IS LORD.
